60 Years of Scientific Excellence

When the Cancer Research Institute was founded in 1953, we knew then that immune-based treatments would transform cancer medicine. In more than six decades since, we've made numerous groundbreaking discoveries that have given more patients new hope today.

Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer and Director of Scientific Affairs

Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D., is chief executive officer and director of scientific affairs of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a nonprofit organization founded in 1953 that is today the global leader in supporting and coordinating research aimed at harnessing the immune system’s power to conquer all cancers. She joined the organization in 1987 as director of scientific affairs, and has been chief executive since 1993.

Prior to joining CRI, she served as a research associate in the department of medicine at Cornell University Medical College and as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of cellular physiology and immunology at The Rockefeller University.

She serves on the boards of CT Atlantic AG, a Swiss biotechnology company focused on the research and development of novel, human-derived antibodies for the treatment of cancer; Richmond University Medical Center; the Staten Island Foundation; and The City University of New York. In 1998, she was named one of Irish America magazine’s “Top 100” Irish Americans, and in 2002 she received the Fairleigh Dickinson University Pinnacle Award, the highest honor bestowed on its alumni. She received the Cancer Research Institute’s 2013 Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology, which the Institute awards to formerly funded postdoctoral fellows who make significant contributions to immunology research.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a doctor of philosophy in cell biology from The State University of New York’s Downstate Medical Center.